The Minnesota Vikings brought in significant competition for quarterback JJ McCarthy this offseason, with Kyler Murray seen as the likely starter. This raises questions about McCarthy's future in Minnesota.
ESPN's Dan Graziano explained that it "doesn't make a lot of sense" for the Vikings to trade their former first-round pick just two years after moving up for them in the NFL Draft. For now, they're hoping the competition will bring out the best in McCarthy.
"People I've talked to who are close to the situation insist that the Vikings haven't given up on McCarthy – part of their hope is to bring in Murray, who gives some kind of shock to McCarthy's system and gets him refocused on what they think he got away from last year. It's probably a long shot, but again, it doesn't seem like they would benefit much from trading him at this point."
Dan Graziano on whether Minnesota Vikings will trade QB JJ McCarthy
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Recent reporting has made it clear that the Vikings have no early leader in the quarterback competition. While Murray has a vastly improved resume, Minnesota wants to give McCarthy a legitimate chance to win the starting job.
McCarthy has two things. First, Kevin is already familiar with O'Connell's system and has chemistry with the Vikings' receiving corps. Additionally, Minnesota also has a greater investment in him and would prefer an outcome where he becomes the long-term starting quarterback.
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Things get more interesting if McCarthy loses the starting quarterback competition. Minnesota also re-signed veteran signal-caller Carson Wentz this offseason.
Wentz performed much better than McCarthy last season, completing 65.1 percent of his passes with a 6-5 TD-INT line, an 85.8 passer rating, and he averaged 7.2 yards per attempt. For comparison, McCarthy completed only 57.6 percent of his passes with an 11-12 TD-INT ratio, a 72.6 QB rating, and he averaged 6.7 yards per attempt.
As Graziano also noted, the Vikings have already paid 70 percent of McCarthy's rookie contract and their original draft-capital investment in that is never being recouped in a trade.
If McCarthy struggles this summer and in the preseason, Minnesota will likely move Murray as the starter and Wentz as the backup quarterback. In that case, as the third-line passer on the Vikings' depth chart, McCarthy and his agent could push for a trade to pursue a fresh start with another franchise.
